Accessibility British Standards

Disability access and accessibility for disabled people

Since the implementation of disability discrimination legislation, a company can face prosecution if their premises are inaccessible to people with disabilities.

Improvements are not restricted to building access, but also include the introduction of additional features such as grab rails, touch legible signs and visual and audio alarm systems.

Companies must take reasonable steps to ensure that as many disabled people as possible have full access to goods, services and places of interest.

BSI has a range of products to help businesses assess and implement the necessary changes. These essential guides will:

Provide all necessary guidance and best practice

Build compliance manuals

Integrate with existing documentation/systems

Manage actions and review

Report on ‘gaps’ in business systems

Allow flexible reporting options including export to PDF.

With the Equality Act in force since October 2010, the obligation to take “reasonable steps” extends to the provision of information (specifically, the law states that where a service "relates to the provision of information," the steps reasonable for a provider to have to take "include steps for ensuring that in the circumstances concerned the information is provided in an accessible format").

The new British standard on web accessibility, published in November 2010, builds upon the 2006 publicly available specification ‘Guide to Good Practice in Commissioning Accessible Websites’ (PAS 78). BS 8878 Web accessibility. Code of Practice is applicable to all public and private organizations wishing to offer accessible, usable websites to their customers.

BS 8878 has been designed to introduce accessibility, usability and user experience for disabled people to non-technical professionals, some of whom may be completely new to this subject. It gives guidance on process, rather than on technical and design issues.

BS 8878 will be of interest to web developers and those who have an interest in the success of an organization's website (as employee or customer).

The British Standard was prepared by a committee of web accessibility experts.

By making web accessibility the subject of a British Standard, BSI hopes that accessibility will be regarded as one of the essential building blocks on which any public website, intranet or web-based tool is built.

Standards for technology and web accessibility

The purpose of this Guide is to assist standards developers (e.g. technical committees or working groups) to address accessibility in standards that focus, whether directly or indirectly, on any type of system that people use. It provides guidance for developing and writing appropriate accessibility requirements and recommendations in standards. However, while its intended audience are standards developers, this Guide contains information that can also be useful to other people, such as manufacturers, designers, service providers and educators.

BS 18477:2010 Inclusive serviceBS 18477 examines the provision of 'inclusive' services and can help organizations better understand vulnerability and to deal with consumers in a fair way.

It specifies procedures for ensuring that services are available and made accessible to all consumers equally. The standard is applicable to any organization dealing with the public, but in particular is aimed at providers of services including utilies, telecoms, financial services, retail, health, transport and housing.

Want to get involved? Find out more about how you can influence standards development with draft standards and BSI committees. Here are some of the ways you can engage with standards:

Consumer & Public Interest Network - Disabled Experts Reference Group

About the Disabled Experts Reference Group (DERG)BSI is committed to establishing standards that fulfil basic consumer principles, particularly in the area of accessibility and inclusivity. With that in mind we need to ensure that we support standards which promote the availability of products and services to all consumers, regardless of their disability or impairment.

As BSI publishes over 20,000 standards on products and services, we have created the Disabled Experts Reference Group (DERG) to provide informed knowledge on the vast number of those that have an impact on disabled people.

DERG is part of the BSI Consumer & Public Interest (CPI) Network and it comprises a diverse group of disabled people with relevant expertise and interest in disability equality, access and service provision. Its brief is to monitor BSI practice and to provide a strong presence in the development and promotion of standards that affect the disabled community.

Following the launch of BSI’s new standard for web accessibility BS 8878 Web accessibility. Code of practice there has been a lot of interest and comment on the first British Standard for accessible web products. We’ve included some of the highlights here for you to read.

Adobe.Com Blogs says “We welcome this new code of practice and hope that this will provide a better understanding of the importance of accessibility to an organization providing web products. Most web accessibility standards are inherently technical in nature and are difficult to understand by non-technical members of an organization.BS 8878 fills this information gap.New British Standard: Web Accessibility Code of Practice, BS 8878:2010Web accessibility code of practice launched by BSIUK standards-setting body BSI has published the first British standard on web accessibility. The websites of organizations which follow the guidance will be accessible to users with disabilities.http://www.out-law.com/page-11643
When the BSI standard is published, recruiters should check their website’s accessibility says People Management Magazine

One of the many changes brought by the Equality Act 2010 is more help for disabled people online. Various best practice guides will emerge as the new act beds down. One example is the British standard on web accessibility, expected from the BSI in November. The draft has helpful suggestions for compliance, such as appointing an individual or department to oversee website accessibility; involving disabled people in website development; and considering the needs of users with specific physical or learning disabilities. Although not legally binding, compliance with the standard will be helpful evidence in the event of a legal challenge.www.peoplemanagement.co.uk

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